Brandywine

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Campus community shares favorite excerpts from The Fault in Our Stars

October 25, 2013

Penn State Brandywine will host a "Common Hour Common Read" event on Thursday, Nov. 7, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Tomezsko Classroom Building Lounge. Students, faculty and staff are welcome to take part in this lively gathering as campus members share their favorite excerpts from this year's Common Read, The Fault in Our Stars, by reading aloud from the text. Light refreshments will be served.

Each academic year Brandywine shares a "Common Read," accompanied by informative and entertaining activities and discussions centered on the campus shared text.

This year's fictional story follows the lives of two teens, a 16-year-old girl with terminal cancer and a 17-year-old ex-basketball player and amputee, who fall in love. Throughout the story they try to understand the meaning of their lives and how they will be remembered once they're gone.

Senior Instructor in English and American Studies Patricia Hillen explained that getting students engaged in reading produces unconventional learning.

"Besides bringing a community together in the genuine act of reading one book, the idea that such reads will prompt inquiry, self-reflection and discourse creates a wide learning environment," Hillen explained. "Participating in any campus event can be valuable to a student, but Common Read events engage an entire community on many levels. Students find out various ways of looking at a subject."

For additional information regarding this event or to make suggestions for next year's Common Read book, visit Brandywine's Common Read webpage.

Image: Penn State

Penn State Brandywine

25 Yearsley Mill Road

Media, PA19063

610-892-1200

Penn State Brandywine is Philadelphia's "next-door" neighbor. The 112-acre campus lies just 20 miles west of Center City and offers four-year baccalaureate degree programs, associate degree programs and workplace professional education programs.